Salome Bey was Canada's First Lady of Blues
August 21, 2020
If it weren’t for Salome Bey, Anthony Pierre might not have been turned on to percussion instruments.
Impressed with his percussion performance at Theatre Fountainhead first major production in 1975, Canada’s First Lady of Blues invited him a few days later to join her on stage at the Colonial Tavern which was one of the foremost Canadian jazz venues located on Yonge St.
Bey’s regular percussionist, Dick Smith, had booked a gig at Ontario Place that conflicted with the Saturday afternoon matinee show.
“Prior to the Theatre Fountainhead production, me and good friend Muhtadi Thomas played congas for the Afro-Caribbean Theatre Workshop,” recalled Pierre who studied classical piano at age eight and was a pannist with Silver Stars, one of Trinidad & Tobago’s top steelbands, before migrating to Canada. “After the show in which she was also involved, she encouraged us to stay with that instrument. Salome was the one that was responsible for me switching from piano and pan to percussion.”
Bey died on August 8 after a lengthy illness. She was 86.
Pierre shared the stage with the Grammy-nominated performer on several occasions.
“Working with Salome was like being part of Black Lives Matter long before the movement became popular,” he said. “She understood the power of Black history and Black art and was very centred and grounded.”
One of nine children born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, Bey won a talent competition at the Apollo Theatre at age 14, but was unable to enjoy her prize – a week of performance at the musical hall -- because she performed without her parents’ permission.
She aborted law studies to pursue entertainment and, with younger siblings Andy Bey and Geraldine de Haas, formed Andy & the Bey Sisters that performed in North America and Europe and recorded and released albums on the RCA Victor and Prestige record labels.
After performing one night in 1961 at the Colonial Tavern, Bey went to the First Floor Jazz Club and met the late Howard Matthews who was smitten by her. They tied the nuptial knot three years later.
The multi-disciplinary artist has left an indelible imprint on the Canadian entertainment landscape.
She appeared on Broadway in ‘Your Arms Too Short to Box with God’ and co-ordinated a cabaret show on the history of Black music, ‘Indigo’, which garnered two Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding Performance in a Revue or Musical and Outstanding Production of a Cabaret or Revue.
In addition, Bey recorded two albums with famed jazz pianist Horace Silver and released live albums of her performances with the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir and at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
Bey and her daughters, tUkU and SATE along with other musicians, performed as Salome Bey and the Relatives for several years
In 1989, Bruce Skerritt accepted an invitation to join the outfit after Eddie Bullen and the late Washington Savage left the group.
The electronic keyboardist/pianist later became the arranger, musical director and tour manager of the band that represented Canada at Expo 92 in Seville, Spain.
“Salome put her trust in someone like me who didn’t have any musical qualifications and I will forever be grateful for that,” said the musician and avid photographer who migrated from St. Kitts 34 years ago. “I worked with her for more than 20 years. We had a mutual interest in developing young people that was a joy to watch. Many of the successful performers in Canada were influenced by her. Salome touched a whole lot of people and made a positive difference to so many. She was a dreamer. Now, she’s a dream that will never die.”
Award-winning vocalist and actor Jackie Richardson was a back-up singer for Bey who appeared in her own play, ‘Madame Gertrude’, and in many television specials, including ‘Salome Bey’s Christmas Soul’ and ‘Special Moments’ that was filmed while she was in Spain in 1992.
“Salome was one of my biggest mentors,” she said. “I called her ‘Mother Earth’ because everything about her speaks to that. She was an icon and one of our strongest leaders in the community and the music world. What really stood out for me is that you could feel her presence without her having to say anything.”
Bey encouraged Richardson to consider becoming a blues singer.
“One day she said, ‘Jackie, there’s something in your voice that lends itself to the blues and you should start singing that’,” recounted Richardson. “I said, ‘Yes, ok Salome’. Periodically, she would ask if I had learnt any tunes yet and I would say, ‘No, but I will get to it’. A few weeks later, she said, ‘Here is this play (Madame Gertrude) I just wrote and you are going to be Ma Rainey and I am going to direct it. That was really the beginning of me delving into the blues and starting do research about other singers.”
Recording artist Aubrey Mann cherishes his friendship with Bey.
“At Expo 86 in Vancouver, I performed on the mainstage in a musical and she did her thing outdoors in a nice setting,” he said. “On a few occasions, she called me up on stage to jam with her and whenever I played in Toronto, she showed up if she wasn’t performing. She was super-talented in that she knew how to write and direct in addition to be an awesome performer. This was a lady who produced big shows and hits and people just loved her and wanted to work with her. The sad thing is she was never held in the same high esteem, I think, by mainstream as other Canadian musicians who didn’t come close to reaching her standard.”
Curator Dr. Sheldon Taylor said Bey was a primary national performer who, quite often, wasn’t treated well by Canada’s entertainment establishment.
He recalled her sitting in the audience at a major concert in Ottawa in the early 1990s featuring some of Canada’s top musical performers.
“That always stuck with me because it’s something that has historically happened to our entertainers,” Taylor said. “She was still on top of her game, yet she was overlooked.”
He saw Bey perform for the first time during the Toronto Caribbean Carnival event at Toronto Islands in the mid-1960s.
“It was either the first or second Caribana festival and I went with my mother,” Taylor pointed out. “Despite singing at a time when people wanted to hear calypso, she held her own and commanded the audience’s respect.”
A few years later, Taylor occasionally accompanied Bey’s late husband to clubs around the city to see her perform.
“I was fairly young and still not heavy into the jazz and the blues and all that sort of stuff,” he added. “Howard spent his nights club-hopping and sometimes I went with him and saw his wife on stage. She was an extremely talented artist who was well versed and knowledgeable having performed in the United States and elsewhere. She also knew what she was singing about.”
The late Salome Bey and Archie Alleyne
Bey and several other top Canadian musicians from the 1960s, 70s and 80s are featured on a giant musical mural on the southern side of a 22-floor Toronto Community Housing building at 423 Yonge St.
It was unveiled in August 2017 to ensure that Yonge St. maintains its aura as a music mecca.
Bey’s daughter, singer/songwriter SATE, attended the ceremony.
“This is quite emotional for me,” she said at the time. “It’s good to know that my mother is still being remembered and acknowledged for her contributions to the music industry. Nowadays, it seems like if you are out of sight, you are out of mind. While performers like Drake and The Weeknd deserve the attention they are getting, there were others before them on whose shoulders they stand. There was a past and we should never forget that.”
Known for her extensive community and charitable works, Bey contributed vocals to the 1985 charity single ‘Tears Are Not Enough’ recorded by several leading Canadian artists under the name ‘Northern Lights’ to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia in the mid-1980s.
The 1984 United Way campaign spokesperson also mentored young up-and-coming artists and her musical theatre work, ‘Rainboworld’, provided a foundation for young artists to develop their skills and explore issues of the world through music, dance and theatre.
Four-time Juno Award winner Simone Denny was part of the children’s musical cast.
“Salome was very professional and passionate about seeing her vision through,” the singer/actor said. “It was a pleasure to work with a legend.”
Appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 2006, Bey performed on two occasions for Queen Elizabeth II and during Nelson Mandela’s first visit to Canada in 1990.
She is survived by her children SATE, tUkU and Marcus Matthews.
To honour Bey's life, her family is requesting that donations be made to Freedom School Toronto. Email e-transfers can be sent directly to trustee karen@childrenspeacetheatre.com.
